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Jan 24, 2017

The day the swamp "clicked"

Historic map of the three majorwatersheds of the Big Cypress Basin,as defined by Klein (1970).

That's what happened to me with the above map.

It wasn't until Jack Meeder clued me in to its tie in to (as Jack calls it) "Immokalee Mountain" (i.e. max elevation 42 ft above sea level) and the Caloosahatchee's Fort Thomson Falls (no longer in existence), that the pivotal role the Big Cypress Swamp played in the pre-drainage Everglades finally snapped into place.

Ft Thompson Falls were locatedabout 2 miles east of LaBelle and formedthe headwater source of the CaloosahatcheeRiver, with a 4-10 ft drop.